These AI Nurses Could Transform the Future of Healthcare

Colin’s Note: Today, we’re spotlighting an exciting development in a topic we’ve had an eye on for a while here at The Bleeding Edge – the intersection of AI and healthcare.

This time, we’re shifting our focus on the collaboration between Nvidia and healthcare startup Hippocratic AI…

They’re coming together to get ahead of a looming global healthcare crisis – a shortfall of nearly 10 million healthcare workers by the year 2030.

Their solution? AI nurses that can fill in the gaps at understaffed healthcare facilities and ease the burden on human nurses when resources get stretched thin.

I get into all the details in today’s Bleeding Edge. Click below to watch the video or read on for the transcript.

Bleeding Edge subscribers, hopefully, you guys are doing well. My name is Colin Tedards.

One thing we’ve explored here in the newsletter is how artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the democratization of access to knowledge. It’s bringing access to tools, services, and technology to people who wouldn’t have had access before.

And the truth is, we’re in the early innings of companies developing AI tools as access to this computing power remains relatively expensive… especially compared to traditional cloud computing.

It’s also a challenge to find talented engineers and computer scientists who can build these new AI computer systems.

But just last week, we got a glimpse into the future when Nvidia and a company called Hippocratic AI – their new venture – exemplified this transformation.

So here’s the backdrop… The health organizations out there are warning of a kind of looming crisis – a shortfall of nearly 10 million healthcare workers by the year 2030. Predominantly nurses.

But not all of us, as you’d imagine, will experience the shortfall equally. That’s because the shortfall will be in mostly low- and middle-income countries. But even developed nations like here in the U.S. or Australia will experience a shortfall as well.

This is where artificial intelligence has its greatest potential. It’s not replacing the jobs of really anyone, including nurses. Instead, it’s bridging the gap in healthcare staffing to mitigate these staffing shortages and bringing healthcare access to people who might not be able to afford it otherwise.

To do this, Nvidia has teamed up with this new company. It all starts with Hippocratic’s safety-centric large language model. As we’ve all likely seen and maybe even potentially experienced, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGBT – and certainly Google’s Gemini – can give some really strange responses.

So in a healthcare environment, that obviously wouldn’t be acceptable. That’s why Hippocratic’s model has been rigorously tested against other AI models using human healthcare professionals. Impressively, the AI model even slightly outperformed human nurses on technical tasks that are often standard before or after a patient receives medical treatment like surgery.

The language model is then paired with an AI-generated nurse that you can have a conversation with over the phone or via video. The most impressive might be the cost.

The AI nurses operate at just a fraction of the cost of a traditional healthcare staff. In fact, Hippocratic AI nurses cost less than $9 per hour.

I showed the video demonstration that was played at Nvidia’s conference to my wife. She’s been a nurse for several years now.

We agreed that the AI nurse lacks the empathy and the caring nature that a human nurse provides. However, there are many, many situations where AI nurses can assist and fill the gaps when staffing can be a challenge.

Imagine having an AI nurse on call during maybe the weekends or holidays… or maybe even in the middle of the night.

And of course, in remote or poor countries where staffing qualified human nurses is nearly impossible, the prospect of AI nurses is the most promising there.

The partnership between Nvidia and Hippocratic AI could mark a significant shift in healthcare, one where access to care is not only more affordable but widespread than it is today.

That was The Bleeding Edge for today. I’ll be back again later this week. I’ll see you again soon.